COPD/RAO - exposure time?

[Twizzel]

I help to look after 4 horses

2 live out 24/7, and 2 have started to come in at night. They moved yards about 3-4 months ago and their stables are in a big american barn, which is quite dusty and full of cobwebs, stabled on straw and having haylage.

The 2 stabled horses started coming in at night about 3 or 4 weeks ago. Since then, one of them has had problems breathing after exercise, coughing, lethargic etc. Vet came and said he had a virus but it could also be COPD. He's now on Ventipulmin and out 24/7 until the meds finish.

My question is, if it is COPD, could this 3-4 wk period of stabling have caused his breathing to get worse, or does a horse need longer exposure than a month to whatever is causing the copd? Horse in question has always made a noise in fast work but has got considerably worse since he moved yards so I'm wondering if the stabling could be an issue?

 

[ottodyl1]

The horse will be affected as soon as exposed to allergens, e.g dust, etc & could progressively worsen over time if not removed from the environment, so the stabling could be the problem if it is COPD/RAO.
Alternatively, as it is a new yard, bit like when we mix with different groups of people, may be susceptible to picking up a virus from one of the other horses til immune system adjusts.
Either way, being outside is the best place for the horse to be til it resolves.

 

[SO1]

Sometimes it can come on really fast sometimes it needs a build up for exposure it depends on how sensitive the horse is to the allergen - for example if you look at nut allergies in humans the come very quickly whereas something else can come on slowly.

A horse can suddenly be allergic to something he was never allergic to before as well.

I had the vet out for my pony on friday as he has an seasonal allergy that causes him to get asthma which comes on in the autumn - he lives out.

Hopefully it is just a virus rather than an allergy as allergies are a pain to deal with.

 

[Chestnutmare]

Oh dear, after I had my late gelding with COPD, laminitis I always made sure his stable was clear of any cobwebs, dust etc..and bedding on matting with shavings - dust free ones, with either haylage or soaked hay, and if possible I would have the horse stabled in a stable outside as barns do tend to collect dust alot quicker and if they are in a stable where fresh air is greater then I think he would be fine and t/o as much as possible!

Best of luck with them.

 

[Paula18]

My horse has just been diagnosed with COPD this week after being in with lammi. He has not been on complete box rest for the last 2 months and has been going out for a couple of hours a day but the COPD seems to have just come on over the last few days. Vet came Monday and put him on ventapulmin. He improved rapidly and by Thursday morning his breathing was fine. Thursday night I arrived at the yard to find him wheezing and coughing worse than he had been on Monday. 2 ponies left the yard that day and their straw beds were cleared out. The vet is pretty sure this caused the rapid deterioration so although my boy was diagnosed with it already, it took a very short space of time to bring on an attack.
I was advised by the vet to de-cobweb my stable and the 2 adjoining ones. He is on sundown red which is a dust free type of shavings and rubber matting. I am soaking his hay although the vet did recommend haylage rather than hay. I just cant feed haylage due to the recent lammi. The one bit of advice i am being consistently given is the one that I cant do - to get him out as much as possible. If you can then this will really help. My vet has said that the most important thing is to manage the surroundings and the level of dust. If you can change your bedding from straw i would suggest it as this seems to be the one thing that really sets my horse off.